Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Turner in Touch

I wasn’t at the Council meeting but Rebecca, the editor of the Gazette filled me in on the result of the “Turner Enquiry.”The project has been “kicked into touch” I understand. With a projected cost of £50 million, KCC aren’t going to risk the consequences of what looks to have been a very expensive and poor decision. As a result, the Turner Contemporary will be relocated on to land, the Rendezvous site most probably, as a hotel come arts centre.The plans will change I'm sure. I’ll have more details available as they come through but would appreciate any further information on the subject. The KentOnline report is here.

"The Leader of the County Council, Paul Carter, said: "The original design for Turner Contemporary was bold and exciting, but a figure of nearly £50 million for the gallery alone - with no guarantee that the cost would not climb further - cannot be borne in part by a local authority acting as protector of the public purse."

Ed: I wonder what happens to the conference described below?

"The ground-breaking construction process behind Turner Contemporary will be at the heart of a major education conference being held in Kent.

The conference, entitled: Building Futures, will enable teachers and education professionals to explore how and why Turner Contemporary will be built. It will be held at The International Study Centre, Canterbury Cathedral on Thursday 23 February.

Building Futures will focus on the shipbuilding skills and state-of-the-art marine engineering techniques, which will see the main structure of Turner Contemporary floated to the site by barge. Once in position the steel superstructure will then be attached to a series of pilings sunk into the seabed alongside the Pier at Margate.

Mike Hill Cabinet Member for Community Services at Kent County Council, which is supporting the Conference, said: "The construction process and the completed building have the potential to inspire students across the county, whether they are interested in art and design, engineering or architecture.

"Awakening our young people to education and career opportunities by introducing them to such a significant building on their doorstep is an important aspect of the work of Turner Contemporary."

Karen Eslea, Audience Development Officer at Turner Contemporary "We want as many people as possible to get involved and we are working hard to ensure that teachers and young people in Kent are inspired by this fascinating and unique construction process."

All delegates at the conference, which costs £60 including lunch (£42 for students - limited places), will receive a full colour resource pack full of ideas and information relevant to the National Curriculum about how to explore Turner Contemporary's construction process.

Schools will also have an opportunity to explore how and why Turner Contemporary will be built through a free exhibition at Droit House, Visitor Centre for Turner Contemporary, which runs from Thursday 26 January to Sunday 30 April 2006."

It was our stupid councillors on TDC who supported this white elephant.Both Labour and Conservative.Anyone with any common sense realised years ago it was a totally bad idea.Are the councillors really so out of touch with reality?It would seem so.Time for a change, I would like to see resignations over this fiasco.

WHAT a load of tosh on KCCs news site. No one has had the decency to apologise for the waste of money,time and effort. So we have paid as taxpayers for a 'few exhibitions'; 'community development' and 'teachers seminars' and 43,000 visitors to The Droit House (thats cost us all £1,500 per visitor).

If it was not such a disgraceful state of affairs I might have been able to laugh about it. HOW MANY HEADS WILL ROLL?

If the 6million wasted so far had been spent on the Arts Departments of all Thanet Secondary Schools to teach youngsters more effectively then you might have inspired young people to develop in art design and architecture.

Such meaningless gibberish as that spouted by TDC Cabinet members in the extra details added above is utterly risible. IF YOU WERE INVOLVED IN THIS SHAMBLES - RESIGN!